Abstract Texture - Swirling Lightspeed

Here's an extremly effective little photoshop tutorial on how to create a lightspeed looking texture completly from scratch.

1. Firstly, open a new photoshop document any size and hit 'D' on your keyboard so your colours revert to the default settings of black and white.

2. Create a new layer (layer > new layer) and on this new layer we will filter some clouds (filter > render > clouds).

3. Then, go to filter > pixelate > mezzotint making sure that the type is set to short strokes.

4. Next, select filter > blur > radial blur and choose the following settings: Amount= 100 Blur Method= zoom Quality= best

5. Simply hit Ctrl + F to repeat the radial blur again.

Now you should have something like this:

6. Then go to filter > distort > twirl (again copying the following settings): Angle= 105%

Now you should have something like this:

7. Now, right-click on your swirly layer and select 'duplicate layer'. This will make another layer identical to the swirl.

8. Now, click on the top layer (one you just made) and go to edit > transform > flip horizontal.

9. Once you have done that, select the layer style (for the top layer again) to lighten rather than normal.

Now, you should have something that looks like this:

10. Hit Ctrl + E on your keyboard to merge the two layers together.

11. Filter > distort > twirl (add another twirl filter again) same twirl settings as before.

Now you should have something that looks like this:

12. Next, get the lasso tool and draw a rough oval/circle around the centre of your pattern

13. Feather the selection by going to Select > Modify > Feather (or using Shift+F6) and change the feather radius to 150pixels. This will not look any different at this stage. Select the inverse by simply choosing Select > Inverse (Ctrl+Shift+I).

14. Next, with this selection, go to layer > new adjustment layer. (if a little popup window opens then just select 'group with previous layer' and hit ok) This should then bring you to a window similar to the picture below. Copy those settings.

15. Now, if you're happy with how it looks, select the adjustment layer and hit Ctrl + E to merge it down so we just have one easy layer again.

16. Go to image > adjustments > hue/saturation and select these settings

17. I’m going move the centre of the swirl off centre using the Transform tool, make sure you have selected the Swirl Layer, then Transform (Ctrl+T), enlarge the image so that you can move the centre, I’m going to move it towards the bottom right, you should end out with something similar to this:

18. Now, all that's left to do is sharpen it up a little. Go to filter > sharpen > unsharp mask and select the following settings. *9i*

19. You're all done. You should end up with something like this. Why not experiment with different colours, sizes and adding extra outer glows etc. to really bring it to life.

As simple as that,

Sam

Effective manipulations - Motion bluring

Here's an extremly effective little photoshop tutorial on how to add some clever motion bluring to your photos.

Choose an image that preferable is an action image. I chose a cantering horse ( from this stock horse site: http://limitofgold.deviantart.com ). I have decided that I would like to give this picture a bit of character by adding a nice motion blur to the background.

1. Open your image in photoshop as usual

2. To start, let's use the 'Edit in Quick Mask Mode' tool. The tool icon is a small circle in a rectangle and can be found under the colour swatches near the bottom of our main tool panel. (Or simply tap the letter 'Q' on your keyboard).

3. Once you have entered the mode then make sure your colours are set to white and black (default colours).

4. Now, using any normal brush (I normally go for a soft round brush) carefully paint over the section of your image that you wish to remain still and in-focus. So in my example I would want to paint the horse since I want the horse to remain still.

You should have something like this:

5. Next thing to do is change the mode back to normal. Simply hit 'Q' on your keyboard or click on the 'circle in a square' icon to the left near the bottom. Then it should automatically have a dotted selection line all around your main still picture.

6. Now, simply go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur

7. Once you have the motion blur pop-up box you can tweak the settings to your liking. As you can see, for mine I used an angle of -7 and a distance of 16p. Choose whatever works best for your picture and have a play around with it to see.

As simple as that,

Sam

Effective manipulations - Colour emphesis

Here's an extremly effective little photoshop tutorial on how to add some colour emphesis to your photos.

Choose an image where there's a certain feature or object which you wish to stand out in colour. I have chosen a photo that I wish to have emphesis on the blue eyes.

1. Open your image in photoshop as usual.

2. To start, let's make the image black and white. Go to Image > Mode > Grayscale

Now your image should be in grayscale (black and white).

3. Let's copy your black and white version. Go to Select > Select All then Edit > Copy

4. Open your original coloured image into a new photoshop document.

Next let's paste your colour version that we copied earlier.

5. Go to Edit > Paste. Make sure that you put your black and white version above your coloured one.

So now you should see your black and white version (with your coloured one underneath).

6. Simply zoom in to your image and gently erase over the area that you wish to have the coloured emphesis on. (For my example it was the eyes). So using an eraser with around 60% opacity, erase this section of your grayscale layer.

Now your coloured layer should show through in that certain section.

You can leave your image here at this stage since it will have a nice effect to it already but to really bring out the colour you can follow the next few steps.

7. Go to Image > Adjustments > Brigntness/Contrast

8. Tweak the contrast especially so that it has a higher contrast.

9. Now for an even stronger colour, go to Image > Adjustments > Colour Balance

10. You can now play with the colour needles until you get a nice strong colour effect.


As simple as that.

Sam